Bell said he had been impressed at Fyfe “moving really well” during the AFLX games, but said the player, medical staff and coaching group had come to the decision that surgery was required.

“You don’t make a decision to send someone off for surgery flippantly, but he got a knock on it a couple of weeks ago and it did swell up,” he said.

“He said it was really painful, and when Nat Fyfe says something’s painful… he’s the guy that played with a broken leg for a game a few years ago for a quarter or so and performed really well, so he’s obviously got a really high pain threshold.”